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Joiner v. State8/11/1999
This Court granted defendant Teresa Ann Joiner's application for interlocutory appeal from the denial of her motion to suppress blood alcohol test results. In her sole enumeration of error, the defendant contends that the trial court erred in denying her motion because her implied consent notice was untimely under OCGA § 40-6-392 (a) (4). We affirm the trial court's ruling.
1. The defendant's reliance on OCGA § 40-6-392 (a) is misplaced. This statute provides that, when a person is arrested for DUI under OCGA § 40-6-391, an implied consent notice for chemical testing must be given at the time of the arrest for DUI in order for the test results to be admissible in a subsequent civil or criminal trial. Accordingly, the defendant asserts that, because she allegedly was under arrest within minutes of a fatal traffic incident, the failure of police officers to give her the implied consent notice at the time of arrest makes the results of her chemical tests inadmissible at trial. However, the defendant's argument fails for two reasons.
(a) The record clearly demonstrates that the defendant was not arrested for DUI until November 1998, five months after the traffic incident. The facts of this case are as follows: At 11:55 p.m. on June 11, 1998, Officer Jimmy Moreland of the Newton Police Department responded to a report that a pedestrian had been involved in a traffic incident on Highway 91 north of Newton, Georgia. When Officer Moreland arrived at the accident scene, the defendant was kneeling over the body of her husband, Stokes Joiner. The defendant had run over her husband's head with her truck. Stokes Joiner had died of a massive head wound before the police arrived. Officer Moreland testified that the defendant repeatedly cried out "I killed my husband" and "Why, Stokes? Why?" Officer Moreland testified that he had been surprised at the scene, because Stokes Joiner had been one of his bosses.
The officer advised the defendant of her Miranda rights, took her into custody because she was extremely distraught, and handcuffed her before placing her in the back of the police car. However, Officer Moreland testified at the motion hearing that, when he took the defendant into custody, he had not had the opportunity to investigate the scene; did not intend to question the defendant; had not conducted field sobriety tests; had not charged the defendant with any crime; and thought that the victim's death was the result of an accident.
Approximately 30 minutes later, Officer Edward Etheridge of the Georgia State Patrol arrived at the scene. He testified that, by this time, the defendant was in the back seat of the patrol car and was "very emotional. She was yelling. She was screaming. She was trying to get out of the . . . car, indicating that she wanted to run to Mr. Joiner." Officer Etheridge testified that the defendant was not under arrest when he arrived at the scene; that the defendant was taken into custody because she was the driver of the vehicle that ran over the victim; and that he asked the other officers to transport the defendant to the police station because she was trying to "do things there that we couldn't allow her to do," i.e., get out of the police car and run to the victim. Deputy John Lilly transported the defendant to the Sheriff's Department. After the defendant was removed from the scene, Officer Etheridge conducted an on-site investigation of the incident.
Special Agent John Pike from the Georgia Bureau of Investigation ("GBI") interviewed the defendant at the Sheriff's Department at approximately 3:28 a.m. regarding the incident. At approximately 5:00 or 6:00 a.m., immediately following his on-site investigation, Officer Etheridge met wi
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